This new Giant River Otter exhibit appears to be excellent, and the sandy shoreline and underwater viewing tunnel are spectacular additions. I wonder how congested the tunnel will become on busy days? However, I'm not sure that anything can top Zoo Miami's enormous habitat for the same species, as shown in a couple of photos below. There is a narrow stream that leads into a deep pool, and the exhibit is very large and it curves around a section of the Amazon & Beyond zone.
Thanks for the photos, and while there are not many Giant River Otter exhibits worldwide it does seem as if there are plenty of great ones. Any otter enclosure without large underwater viewing windows would probably be out of the running as such visitor angles are practically a necessity these days, but Leipzig, Doue, Dortmund, Chester and Miami all have terrific exhibits. I've also seen the species in several other American zoos and Miami clearly has the #1 exhibit for the species in North America. It will be interesting to see what Los Angeles does in its new Rainforest of the Americas complex that opens in 2014.
Is there an outdoor enclosure too? If this is all there is why are so many of you piling huge praise on this? Given the climate in Singapore this could be a dense riverbed jungle habitat what the photograph shows is a glorified grotto. Perhaps I'm missing something?
This exhibit is not a grotto it is surronded by high walls and other buildings but there is already a lot of vegetation that in 5 years time will cover the walls completly. This is also an outdoor exhibit to begin with.
"Surrounded by high (artificial rock) walls" = "grotto." While the deep pool and underwater viewing look quite good, the terrestrial portions of this exhibit are nowhere near the quality or spaciousness of several other facilities, notably including Leipzig. It is pretty well established that best practices in giant otter husbandry and breeding requires extensive land area with varied substrates, which seem to be lacking in the new River Safari habitat.
While the deep pool and underwater viewing look quite good, the terrestrial portions of this exhibit are nowhere near the quality or spaciousness of several other facilities, notably including Leipzig. It is pretty well established that best practices in giant otter husbandry and breeding requires extensive land area with varied substrates, which seem to be lacking in the new River Safari habitat.
I think the terrestrial area is terrible and as you say doesn't provide the recommended requirements to promote breeding. I assume there is a dwcent off-exhibit area for the international studbook holder to have given the go ahead to transfer animals here. While the depth and size of the pool are great it could be better furnished to provide a little enrichment. It's certainly clear this exhibit has been designed with the philosophy that unobstucted views are of greatest importance!
Can anyone confirm this is an outdoor exhibit it looks as if lit with skylights?
If this photo shows a pretty complete picture of this exhibit, then it is a rather average enclosure in my mind, certainly nowhere near the standard of Leipzig (indoor) or Chester (outdoor), the two giant otter enclosures I have seen. This isn't even remotely naturalistic, its just a (admittedly deep) swimming pool, surrounded by a sand expanse, then a narrow garden edge.
